Thursday, October 23, 2008

Directional Stabilizer for the TK-1

Well, as some of you have noticed I have been back and forth on the idea of putting a skeg or directional piece onto the TK-1. I had been worried that it might teach me bad paddling habits by being a "Band-Aid" fix for the tracking of the boat.

But after thinking about it for a while and reading the comments left on my blog here by Paddlesheep, I have decided to go ahead and order the Directional Stabilizer from Sea Eagle. It will fit on the TK-1 easily and should help with straight line travel and tracking when not paddling. This should ALSO help me achieve a bit better overall speed out of the boat, because less energy will be spent correcting the last stroke. Basically the energy will be more focussed on making the boat go forward.

I'll be ordering it when I get back from Vegas in a couple of weeks, then installing it this fall. I don't know if I'll get a chance to try it out at all until next spring.

Like I said, I really enjoy the TK-1...but the one thing I wish it did a bit better was "go straight." I think that the directional stabilizer will help it do that a bit better, and that will help me enjoy the boat that much more.

On a side note...if the stabilizer really helps out with the TK-1, that may basically put a real damper (in a good way) on me looking to upgrade anytime soon. Instead of looking to upgrade, I would be looking to get another TK-1 and another stabilizer so that Cathy would have one. I think the TK-1 is a higher quality boat than the Bali...but the Bali will be good for her to try the first few times out.

On another side note...I'm still leaning towards the Sea Eagle as the next boat...regardless of whether the TK-1 stays with me for a while or not!!!!